UGT: 29th Terrana 280 a.G.A. / 04:19 p.m.

  Location: ASF Aurora, inside the Arakh-S?l System (black hole, 215x the Sol star mas), Inner-Noran sector, Ruidan Raider Association, Milky Way

  The ASF Aurora drifted afloat in the empty void of the Arakh-S?l system, its hull aglow with the silent energy of dormant weaponry. The battle lay two days in the past by now. Still, I knew that this was only the quiet before the storm. "Say, Fen, what's the current situation in the system?" I asked idly.

  [ Local space is clear. No new contacts, no changes in the gravity map, and Thorrison’s ships are doing their stuff in the system. You already know that we sucessfully got our hands on some antimatter and our reserves are now filled by 99%. ]

  “Good. That's very good. To be honest, I’m quite surprised they haven’t demanded a full war council by now. After all, our time in this system is coming to a close.”

  [ Oh, they did. Three times by now, actually. I’ve been intercepting the requests, telling them you're busy. I assumed you wanted to have a breather first, before speaking to them again. ]

  That was... surprisingly considerate. At least one "person" understood more about me than I showed. I allowed myself a slight grin. “Thank you. But we’ll give them their council now. Do we have a drone in place over there?" I asked him.

  [ Yes. Otherwise the Federation wouldn't have shut up. In fact, I have already informed them be now, that you wish to talk to them. They should be ready at any moment. ]

  “Thanks, Fen. Well then, let's start this,” I said. Without fanfare, the air around the Bridge shifted. The different hologramms showing the ASF Aurora's day-to-day organisation dimmed. Instead, the room around me changed and I found myself in a familiar conference room aboard the FSF Defiance, sitting eye-to-eye with the Executive Comitee of Admiral Thorrison and their entire fleet.

  “Welcome to this war council,” I said calmly, stopping the Admiral from even speaking up. “I hope we'll have a frutifull talk about how to best go about our attack on Karesh-Ti’Varn." I summoned the first two projections. Two maps expanded above the table, one featuring Arakh-S?l, now behind us, the other Karesh-Ti’Varn, capital system of the local Association enclave and our next objective. As we've already acknowledged many times, but for the sake of a complete overview I'll say it again, the Association forces won't expect anyone from our direction. They have little to no defenses here and believe it impossible for anyone to have a second way into the Arakh-S?l system.”

  General Sylen, the CMO of the Defiance, after me the youngest present and certainly the most open with her thoughts, voiced her doubts. “What if we’re discovered during the transition? Karesh-Ti’Varn isn’t unguarded, even if we force us thorugh the weakest link into the system. They have relay towers, artillery platforms, orbital mines…” She trailed off.

  “Yes,” I agreed and swept my hand through the map. Three bright red nodes blinked into focus near our exit point in the Karesh-Ti’Varn system. “If the Federation intelliogence you've offered me is up to date, these are the relay towers anchoring their local defense net. Their job is to pick up hyperspace vectors from approaching ships. Without them, Karesh is blind. One of the ASF Aurora's smaller spacecraft that can remain undetected will handle them. It'll give them some warning, but they won't know the correct direction. They will assume we push from somwhere else as well, which will be valuable."

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  Admiral Thorrison narrowed his eyes. “And what about their fleet in and of itself and the planetary landing?”

  “Regarding the planaty landings, that's your operation,” I said, meeting his gaze. “The FSF is in charge of land-based actions, seeing how the ASF Aurora isn't capable of supporting them. We unfortunately have next to no data on the Association fleet in Karesh-Ti’Varn, only that they're not confident in besting our entire fleet offensively. With the factor of surprise andd general lack of organisation that will incur, I believe with a proper strategy we'll come out on top. It's certainly not optimal, but it's the best I can currently offer, regarding our lack of real intel.

  The Admiral nodded reluctantly. “And if the Association calls reinforcements from the next system over?”

  “They can’t,” Fen interjected, who had obviously joined me in holographic form just like last time. “They will expect a pincer attack from Yra-S?l'Vareth. It will force them to remain stationary, no matter the circumstance.”

  General Sylen blinked. “That’s... a clever trap.”

  “No,” I corrected her. “It’s not good by any means, but it's the best we've got right now and the only option at the moment.” I gave everyone a moment to absorb it. No one spoke. “Your ships begin final hyperspace recalibration now,” I said at last. “All maneuvering software will be replaced with precision-pathing code provided by Fen. No deviations. No personal overrides. This is not negotiable.”

  Several of the people present looked visibly uncomfortable, but no one objected. Not openly and not if the Admiral nodded in agreement. Therefore I continued. “I’ll transmit encrypted egress protocols and launch vectors six hours before the jump. We deploy in 21 hours. There will probably be no safe option of retreat through the Aetherian Trade Corridor again due to the necessary recalibration time."

  “Meaning we either win,” Admiral Thorrison said, “or die inside their backyard.”

  I nodded. “Exactly.” One by one, the Executive Committee gave short affirmatives, their faces grim but resolved. “Then the Council is dismissed,” I finished and the digital room desolved. Once more, I stood on the Bridge of the Aurora, stars glittering beyond the reinforced viewport, and silence humming all around me. I didn’t move for several seconds.

  [ And now that council's done as well. We had no leaks or anomalies. Admiral Thorrison’s probably marginally less annoyed with you now as well. ]

  “That’s practically affection from someone like him,” I replied dryly. "Not that he'll ever not be annoyed with me."

  [ I’d log it as progress. ]

  I returned my focus to the still-glowing star map. The Karesh-Ti’Varn operation would define the next phase of this war. If it failed, everything we’d built since the start of our campaign against the Association would unravel. My plans to bring back the Aetherian Empire and revive my people on ASO-17309 would likely fail. And we'd loose our lives, of course. If it succeeded... we’d be open to take an even bigger risk for even higher rewards. There was no chance in hell I would claim that we were ready for this. But we would be going anyway.

  “Fen,” I said quietly. “Have our weapon and shield systems ready. Double-check everything and run disaster simulations again. All of them. We cannot allow ourselves to fail.”

  [ Running now. And May? You do realize if we pull this off, they’ll either start revering you as strategic genius, or they'll start fearing and seeing an even bigger threat for the Federation in you. There's a difference for them in knowing something and seeing it with their own eyes. ]

  “Honestly? I don't care. Let them do both. They'll help me force the Kingdom of Ferron into a surrender out of their own interest. Afterward, we won't need them anymore. Not necessarily. Diplomacy will be the deciding factor then,” I replied. I saw the road I had to walk before me, shimmering like a blade in the dark. And we would walk it. But if I would succeed and what it would cost? Who knew?